This was the scene Saturday, as I was in such dire pain I would rate it at a 7. I felt okay when I ventured out with my friend Ken in the wee hours of Saturday morning, road tripping to the Sheyenne River Valley Scenic Byway for some photos. There was a lot going on in Fort Ransom too, with a big arts and crafts show underway, and we were determined to check it out.

We were a little bummed that the fall colors hadn’t fully arrived, and many of the trees whose leaves had turned were already barren. We did our best to have fun and hunted around for whatever we could find. One weird thing about this Byway is that it’s quite lovely…but I didn’t really find a whole lot of interesting photo opportunities! We found a few, but they were far between.

I ended up with some weird sort of infection Friday night that started in my lower sinuses and the roof of my mouth. By mid-day Saturday I was in such pain that I couldn’t swallow, even though my throat was fine. It was bizarre. We cut the trip short and I headed off to the clinic. I was prescribed some antibiotics and other nasty drugs and crawled back home for a couple day’s bed rest. Yuck.